


Caught Between Red and Black

by JuliaTheRainbowFacedSheep



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Demons, Destiel - Freeform, Future, Gen, Hallucinations, Hell, Hell (Supernatural), I'm Going to Hell, Original Character(s), Red nail polish, Ruling Hell, Satan - Freeform, Satan and Crowley, The Winchester Gospels, Winchesters - Freeform, Young Winchesters, creating characters, dean and cas - Freeform, hell's complicated, little kids, new characters - Freeform, posession, war in hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-26
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-01-26 13:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1690556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JuliaTheRainbowFacedSheep/pseuds/JuliaTheRainbowFacedSheep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a war in hell when Lucifer breaks out of his cage and kills Michael. Lucifer wants to have control over hell again. He's trying to find a vessel and Crowley is doing everything he can to keep Lucifer away from the little boy Lucifer has deemed his vessel.<br/>Set in the future (two generations after Sam and Dean)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Red Nail Polish

"I don't want to kill him" Red whispered.  
“I’M THE KING OF HELL YOU WILL FOLLOW MY ORDERS” Crowley yelled, spitting into Red’s face.  
Red shook his head. “I don’t care. I don’t want to kill him"  
"YOURE A DEMON YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY WITH MURDER!" The king roared and spat again into Red's face.  
"He's my..." Red hesitated for a moment, knowing the implications of saying friend but not wanting to betray someone who would never betray him. "He's my friend."  
He had never seen the king so angry.  
"You're. A. Demon. You don't have friends."  
Red thought back to when he first met Danny. Crowley had ordered Red to kill him because for some reason a 7 year old kid possed a threat to his ability to rule over hell.  
Red would forever be bitter about that. He didn't understand what a kid had to do in this war. Leave them out of it.

He walked into Danny's room at around three in the morning. But he wasn't sleeping. No, this child had out two monster trucks and was acting out a huge head-on crash between the two where both of the cars fly backwards. He just kept doing it at different angles over and over again.  
Red stood in the shadows of Danny’s room for a while, watching.  
No matter what anyone would tell him he never thought a child should just be killed without reason. Pick on someone your own size and leave the kid to his monster trucks.  
Something made him care about this boy.  
Maybe it was the way his nails were painted a deep purple that reminded Red of himself.  
Maybe it was the bruises all around his arms.  
Or the pictures he'd drawn in crayon of huge angry monsters.  
Maybe it was the fact that he was inexplicably up at three in the morning.  
Something made Red feel sympathy for Danny. For a child that should have been left to be a child.

Red would've left right then. But he turned and knocked over a third truck that was sitting at his feet that he didn't know was there. 

Danny looked up but didn't scream. He didn't ask why a stranger with all black eyes was in his room. All he said was,  
"Do you want to play with me?"  
Red stood there dumbstruck. His eyes flashed back to blue. He'd seen grown men cringe at the sight of him. And here was a kid, the one who is supposed to be afraid of monsters, asking if he wanted to play. Red walked into the light the nightlight was making. He flashed his eyes black again, thinking that if this boy was scared it would make this easier.  
"Your eyes are cool."  
Red couldn't understand it. Why wasn't this kid afraid?  
Danny, seeming to be bored with both the stranger in front of him and his trucks, pulled out crayons and a stack of paper.  
He picked out a red crayon and started shading.  
"So what's your name?" He asked without looking up.  
"They call me Red cuz I'm always wearing Red nail polish." Red whispered, his voice hoarse.  
"No. Your real name."  
"I've been dead so long I can't remember"  
This makes Danny look up. Not know fear, though. It's a look Red can't quite place.  
"So you are a demon." It wasn't a question and it wasn't a statement. 

"How do you know?" Reds eyebrows furrowed as he looked in bewilderment at Danny.  
"My grandparents tell me lots of stories. I thought demons kept to themselves more now, though"  
He seemed to get annoyed with the thought that the crayons stay in the box while he colored so he dumped them all onto the bed.  
He seemed so sure of himself. He was only 7 but so confident that it made Red stagger backwards and into a rocking chair in the corner.  
"So Red. Would you like to color with me?"  
Red couldn't place what it was about Danny that made him able take control of the situation. It wasn't that he scared Red. It was the lack of intimidation that was so foreign.  
Red walked over to the bed.  
"Why not" he sighed as he sank down into the bed to color with a seven year old he was ordered to kill.  
Red picked at the nail polish on his thumb.  
"So um, Danny. Why are you up this late?"  
"Nightmares" he said in the matter-of-fact tone that only seven year olds can get right. He didn't sound scared, but you could tell he'd refuse to close his eyes again that night. Red wondered why his parents weren't more worried.  
Red knew his orders. He knew he'd be tortured for disobeying them. But he couldn't kill a child. He kept picking at the nail polish.  
He still hadn't picked up a crayon. Danny had taken to drawing big red monsters on each page.  
Red lay down face up on the bed. He looked over at Danny who sat looking very, very concentrated. But Red knew he couldn't leave. Not without killing Danny. He pushed himself up to see Danny's drawings and thought about his orders. 'He must be given a hunters funeral. Burn his body and possessions.'  
The nail Polish was almost gone by now. He'd have to redo it when he got the chance.  
"What is it you're drawing?" Red didn't really care but thinking about killing Danny made him feel sick. It was so weird to him to not be in control of what was going on, and to not be causing fear to the other person. He couldn't take it so he was trying to make conversation.  
"Monsters." Danny took out the first one he'd drawn. "This one is my dad." There were a couple of that. "This is Johnny. He rides my bus." He moved on to the next. "I don't know his name but this is the man from my dreams." Red cringed. He'd know that face anywhere. It was Lucifer. Lucifer had just escaped his cage and no one could figure out how. He'd killed Michael, and he was trying to take back Hell, because Heaven warded itself against him. In some twisted way that Red hadn't figured out yet, Lucifer was the reason Danny needed to be killed.  
“What does the guy from your dreams say to you?”  
Danny thought for a moment. “He says that he needs to find me. But he can’t. And that I need to tell him where I am. He says that he wants to give me everything, and that it has to be me. I don’t understand most of what he says to me.”  
Red didn’t understand it either. It wasn’t a thought that Lucifer would break out of the cage, so he never read up on any sort of Winchester gospel like most of the rest of the demons and angels and everyone seemed to.  
Danny finally got to the last one. It was grey, unlike the rest, which were mixtures of black and red. "And this one is you." Red took it. This little boy kept amazing him.  
He looked at the clock. It was 4am.  
Danny stool up. The crayons all shuffled around. By now the nail polish on Red's thumb was almost completely gone. He didn’t realize he’d been picking at it until now.  
"Getting food. Do you want any? Do demons even eat?" He looked like he was genuinely considering if they felt hunger.  
It was the most Red had heard him say without promting. Maybe he just spoke when he felt like it, not when other people asked it of him.  
Red sighed. "Got any alcohol?"  
Danny tilted his head to the side for a moment, thinking.  
"I think so."  
Red trailed after him to the kitchen. He felt like he was more of the little kid than Danny was.  
Danny opened the fridge and looked around. He pulled out what looked like a beer and handed it to Red. He also pulled out some kind of rice dish and a fork. He microwaved that and sat down to eat, not saying a word. Red sat across from him at the round table, watching over the rim of the bottle. Danny seemed so self-sufficient.  
“Why aren’t your parents worried about the fact that you’re awake at four in the morning?”  
Danny shrugged. “They stopped caring"  
Red wasn't sure why he was even asking this sort of thing. It wasn't like most demons. But he had never been like most demons. He'd never understood why they couldn't keep their problems to themselves and why they had to drag humans into it and kill them.  
“Do you ever wish they hadn’t?”  
Danny thought for a moment.  
“No.”  
He didn’t provide an explanation and Red didn’t see a need to ask for one.  
When Danny was done eating he brought out other toys and went back up to his room. Red was starting to feel like a babysitter. He knew he was stalling but all he could do was pick at his nail polish and hope a solution would come to him.  
He would never understand why Crowley had picked him, out of everyone he could have, to kill Danny. Red had voiced relatively often that children should be kept out of the war in Hell. He never killed humans without direct orders. He tried to live as peacefully as possible, and keep to himself. So why would he, of all people, be the one Crowey decides need to perform this?  
He thought about the times he'd screwed up. How it wasn't that rare he'd look our for humans over demons. He'd regularly warded humans he was supposed to have killed. How he'd gotten captured by some secret society at one point and been injected with what he assumed was human blood. And he'd never told anyone. Or how he'd refused to torture a soul who clearly didn't know anything, even if he got hurt for it. But no one ever explained the full story to him. He only got the parts he "needed to hear" so he kept in his mind that any time he screwed up was almost always only half his fault.  
Back in his room Danny seemed to not know what to do anymore. So he sat on the floor and decided it was time to get to know Red and why he was here. He had a lot more energy after his 4:00 am snack.  
“I’m assuming you didn’t come here just to color with me and watch me eat. So why is it you’ve come?”  
“It’s easy to answer why I came. I can’t figure out why I’ve stayed so long” Red started picking at his nail polish again. “I’m supposed to kill you."  
Danny still wasn’t phased. It was like he expected that answer. “Did demons suddenly grow a heart? I don’t understand why you haven’t.”  
“I don’t think children deserve to die for a war they have no part of"  
“So you DO have a heart!” Danny looked like he’d unlocked a gem to win a video game he’d been working at for months.  
“I guess” Red tried to remain as indifferent-looking as possible.  
“But then why would you be ordered to kill me?” Danny looked like he was trying to solve the biggest mystery his life would ever offer him.  
Red shrugged. “King of hell thought I’d be good at it?”  
Danny thought for a moment. Red took it to try and get more answers out of him.  
“Why don’t you go back to sleep?”  
Danny looked at Red like he was crazy.  
“I told you, nightmares. I’m not about to let some creepy ass dick stalk me though my dreams.”  
Red held up his hands in defeat. “Okay fine sorry.”  
Danny shrugged. “Let me ask the questions now!” he said excitedly.  
For a moment Red forgot about picking at his nails and he chuckled at the eagerness of this kid to talk to a demon that was supposed to kill him. “Okay shoot”  
“Why does Crowley…wait that’s the king of hell right?” Red nodded. “Why does Crowley want me dead?”  
“Beats me. All he said is that you’re some kind of threat. But half the world is a threat to him so it’s a miracle half the world is even alive.”  
Danny nodded.  
“Wait how is it you even know the king of hell?” Red suddenly realized that wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge to humans.  
“Like I said, my grandparents tell me a lot of stories.” Danny waved it away like it had no importance whatsoever. "Now let me ask the questions!!!” He looked like a puppy the way he flopped his arms around begging for Red to pay attention to his questions instead of the fact that he knew a lot about things he shouldn’t.  
“What do you want to know?”  
“I want to know why you stayed even though you’re obviously not going to kill me.”  
Red started picking at his nail polish again.  
“And stop picking at your freaking awesome nail polish” Danny shoved his hand away and Red looked up, frustrated.  
“I told you, I don’t think children have a place in a war that’s over hell.”  
“Why is hell at war?” Danny asked in the most innocent way.  
“Well…this bad guy…Lucifer -“  
“Oh I know about him my grandparents told me all about him.” Danny said in that same little kid matter-of-fact tone.  
Red nodded, trying not to question it. “He broke out of where he was locked away. And now he’s trying to take hell away from Crowley.”  
“Would that be bad?”  
Red nodded.  
“Oh.”  
That was all Danny responded with. And he looked confused for a minute before leaping up from where he was sitting and asking Red if he wanted to make Legos with him. Red looked at the clock. He kept thinking that maybe when daylight would break he wouldn’t have to kill Danny. Maybe he wouldn’t have to go back to Crowley’s office if he procrastinated just a little longer. So he agreed to play Legos.

They continued on like this while building Legos. Danny would ask a question, Red would answer as best he could. Red would ask a question, Danny would give a very short answer that gave very little away. Red should’ve been getting annoyed at it, but he couldn’t shake his curiosity for a little kid who was more afraid of his dreams than of a demon that was supposed to kill him.  
Eventually Danny’s dad woke up. It was around 6:00 in the morning and Danny would be making breakfast for him soon. Red made sure to leave before Danny’s dad could’ve done anything. But before he left Danny pulled on his sleeve.

“Are you ever gonna keep away the nightmares again?"  
“Don’t worry about the nightmares, kid. But no, I will probably never come back.”  
And with that he zapped himself into Crowley’s office as he had been ordered and slumped into a chair putting his head in his hands.

“HE WHAT?!”  
He heard the king scream from down the hall.


	2. Locked Out and Locked Up Part One

This went on for a couple of days. Every day Red would be ordered to kill Danny. Every night he’d go to Danny’s house, and every morning he’d come back empty handed.  
He got to know Danny. Red found he was one of the few people who listened to him. Red learned about the bullies on the bus and the indifference of Danny's father. He learned about how Danny's mother had gotten in a bad accident and didn't remember who Danny was. It's not that Danny trusted Red with the information, he didn't really give a shit what Red did with it. It wasn't as if it was hidden information. Anyone who wanted to listen could. But no one had so fat. Red sat and listened to him every night. They knew it was both unlike demons and unlike humans to interact like this. And interact in general, since Lucifer had come back. But Danny found he liked the company and Red found that he couldn't betray the boy.  
Every day he'd come back he’d be tortured for not completing his task. Crowley got a low level demon to do it, because it would demean Red's rank and humiliate him. Torture was torture but humiliation of stature was far greater a punishment in itself. 

Meanwhile Danny began to expect Red every night. So by the third night there was a beer ready and waiting by Danny’s bedside table. They played Legos and got to know each other and no matter how little sleep Danny got he always had energy for Red. And Red never let it show that he was being tortured for doing what he did, so Danny would never feel bad.  
Each day Red would be told how important this mission was without being told why a child needed to die. And that night he’d go back to kill Danny and by the end of the night he simply couldn’t do it.  
Until finally the king got tired of it. He lost hope in Red and locked him up in a dungeon similar to the cage Lucifer had been in.

“Why aren’t you killing me?” Red asked Crowley from behind the bars of his cage.  
“So you can see why it’s so crucial that Danny dies” Crowley yelled as he walked away.

Hell was organized in a new way since Crowley had been king. He’d tried out a few different torture methods for the souls that came down but his office had always remained the same. It was always a small black painted room in the middle of hell. It sort of floated above everything else as a single clean spot in the entire place. The door had a sigil on the front that no one knew what the purpose was but no one dared go in the room unless invited for fear of what it could do.  
Inside there was a desk and shelves of books that Crowley had no clue what they contained he just wanted to keep the look of clean and better than the rest of hell. Better than the rest was key. They'd never follow him if they believed he was as common as the rest. Which he obviously wasn't. The floor was wood but the desk and bookshelves were painted black. And behind the desk was the closest Crowley would get to a throne. It was a black cushioned desk chair that he’d inherited when he’d become the king of hell. Each time his position was threatened the opposing party would get ride of it. And every time he won he’d gotten it back and put it back in it’s place. It was a testament to how he’d always come back to rule over hell. He’d never truly die. No matter what the Winchesters or anyone else would ever do about it.  
Every soul had to go through this office to get into hell. He’d interview each one and decide where in hell they should go. He decided who’d be torturing them, and if they'd be torturing anyone else. It worked pretty well as far as Crowley was concerned.  
That was until Lucifer escaped. No one really understood how that happened, but he’d gotten free. The first thing he’d done was kill Michael, which no one saw coming. Most people thought that if either of them ever escaped they'd revisit the apocalypse and give the angels the paradise they wanted so badly. But instead Lucifer killed Michael. Not like Michael was still very alive after so long in the cage with Lucifer. And his vessel had died almost immediately. Lucifer needed a new vessel, too. His old one had died about the second they’d gotten into the cage. And it was only a matter of time before he found his vessel and came looking for Crowley.  
Cowley didn’t really have much of a plan if that happened.  
“Send Chax up, I need one of my bitches to talk to.” Crowley said to what seemed to be the air. But less than a second later there was a knock on his door and a beautiful slim figured girl with long dark black hair walked in.  
“Ahh. Chax. What’s the damage?” Crowley only had two demons he’d trust with information regarding Danny and Lucifer and the entire situation. Red, who had just failed him horribly, and Chax, his second in command. He hated having someone second in command, but if it had to be anyone it might as well be a demon that would stay loyal and liked causing trouble for the other side.  
She walked in effortlessly and sat down across across the desk from Crowley.  
“I don’t understand, why Red?”  
Crowley raised his eyebrows. “Not much for small talk, are you?”  
Chax didn't move and didn't offer an explanation. Crowley sighed, standing up. “I had some kind of faith that he’d do what I said.” Crowley walked around to the front of his desk and sat on the edge. “Obviously I was wrong." He looked down at Chax, waiting for a response.  
Chax paused for a moment, before asking “why does Danny need to die in the first place?”  
Crowley signed. “That's the problem, isn't it? He’s the grandchild of Sam Winchester. Sam’s a little too old and a little too dead now to be a good vessel, and the bloodline of Cain and Able was really all Lucifer needed.”  
“So Danny is Lucifer’s vessel?" Chax raised her eyebrows at Crowley.  
“To put it delicately” Crowley said slowly.  
“But if Danny died, couldn’t Lucifer just bring him back?” Chax tilted her head to the side slightly, her hair falling to the side.  
“Not if Danny’s soul ended up in heaven.” Crowley tried to sound as determined as possible.  
“How would that help?" Chax seemed to see right through Crowley's fake determination.  
“Heaven’s locked him out you twat” he snapped. Crowley hated having to explain this. He didn’t want hell thinking he was soft because he was protecting a Winchester. They’d thought that before and he nearly lost hell over it.  
"So Lucifer breaks free and heaven locks him out. And the King of Hell doesn't want a Winchester helping the other side.” Chax said it as a statement but she raised her eyebrows questioningly.  
Crowley rolled his eyes. “Look. I just don’t want the Winchester line to get into that again. Besides, without a vessel, Lucifer’s basically powerless. Quite a big help to me, don't you think?” Crowley huffed, red-faced.  
Chax ran her hand through her long black hair. “Why didn’t you tell any of this to Red? Wouldn’t that give him a valid reason to kill Danny?"  
“If he knew the details he’d blab them to every demon on the planet. I don’t need everyone thinking I’ve gone soft. Last time that happened I nearly lost hell to Abaddon."  
Chax nodded, then paused for a second, thinking. “Then why chose him for this job?"  
“He’s good at going on very few instructions and not questioning it. He’s just…a bit…dull. So I give him very little to go on and he’ll do what I ask.” Crowley looked at the door. “Most of the time” he added.  
“Why are you telling me any of this?” She asked, her eyes flashing with the excitement of getting to kill someone.  
“Because you now have to be the one to kill Danny. Red’s obviously too…human to be able to kill Danny, and Lucifer certainly can’t get to him”  
Chax nodded regaining her composure for the job she'd been given. "Okay. When do I start?"  
Crowley stood up and walked back around to his black chair.  
"Tonight. From what I understand Danny's expecting Red to show up and be his play buddy. You show up instead, kill him off, hunters funeral, blah blah blah you should know the rest."  
Chax nodded.  
"But you should know that because he's a Winchester, the house is warded and hidden from both angels and demons. You won't be able to find it by just snapping yourself there."  
"Then how will I find it?" Chax asked, obviously confused.  
Crowley wrote down the address on a slip of paper and handed it to Chax. "With this." He sank back into his chair.  
Chax nodded again, flashed her eyes black and turned on her heels and left.  
Crowley sighed. He knew it'd be a long day. He would go see Red later. Torture. But he had his normal king of hell tasks to deal with first. He picked up the Winchester gospel "Free to be You and Me" that was in his desk drawer and started his homework. He had to know what Lucifer would say to Danny. He had to anticipate everything. 

Outside of the office, the form of Chax shimmered and melted into Lucifer's last vessel and walked off towards the dungeons. He would be going to Danny's, but definitely not to kill the boy. Lucifer smiled mischievously. Crowley had just given him everything he needed to know. 

Red sat in his cell trying to occupy himself. He knew they'd go after Danny now and he knew he shouldn't care but he did. And he didn't know why. The feelings that he shouldn't have twisted and turned in the pit of his stomach. He was trapped there watching as they killed an innocent boy because he had something to do with Lucifer. 

From somewhere down far below his office, Crowley heard a loud rumble, and then the sound of clashing metal. He knew exactly where it was as soon as he’d heard it. Still, he transported himself down to Red's cell just to be sure. And sure enough, the door to Red's cell had been blown off and the cell was completely empty.  
"Oh bullocks" Crowley growled.


	3. Locked Out and Locked Up Part Two

Lucifer looked at his illusion in the mirror before he materialized in Crowley's shack that he called an office. He'd have to pull of a kick ass version of his second in command, Chax, if Crowley was going to believe it.  
Lucifer was good at hallucinations. He'd had a lot of practice with both Sam and Michael in the cage. It had always been the best kind of torture because they'd think it was real. And even if they knew it wasn't they couldn't do anything about it. So he'd gotten really good at making hallucinations seem real. This wasn't torture exactly, but the refined skills would come in handy.  
Lucifer had even gotten his skills to a point where just by taking on a person's figure he could pick up their traits.  
And Chax was relatively easy to replicate. Long black hair and dark eyes to match. She loved creating mischief but unlike Red she made sure she got the full story. She was incredibly smart, too. Lucifer rather liked her. It was a pity that he had to kill her in order for his plan to work. She would've gotten word to Crowley somehow that she wasn't actually the one Crowley was talking to. But her death was really too bad. Lucifer would've rather liked to see her on his side.  
Crowley called Chax to his "office". Such a confining black box at the center of hell.  
Lucifer put her in a flowy white top and long black pants with heels. He nodded at himself before going up to meet Crowley. 

Lucifer dressed as Chax walked in to Crowley's office.  
Right away he took in all of his surroundings. Every book on Crowley's self that he'd probably never bothered to read. All except the entire set of the Winchester Gospels, one of which sat open on his desk. Lucifer noted that it was the one where he'd been looking for Sam and first interacted. Crowley must've known that Lucifer didn't have a vessel and was looking for one. Crowley knew that it had to be either Danny or his father, the two living heirs to the Cain and Able blood line.  
Lucifer took in all of that in the amount of time it took him to walk from the door to the chair planted across from Crowley's dorky black chair. 

“Ahh. Chax. What’s the damage?” Lucifer didn't care for any small talk even if he was Chax. He almost cut Crowley off saying, “I don’t understand, why Red?”  
Crowley raised his eyebrows. “Not much for small talk, are you?” Lucifer laughed to himself but stayed where he was.  
Crowley sighed, standing up. “I had some kind of faith that he’d do what I said.” Crowley walked around to the front of his desk and sat on the edge. “Obviously I was wrong." He looked down at Chax, waiting for a response.  
Lucifer tried to look surprised, as if her were thinking about that. The truth was that obviously Red would go against Crowley’s orders to protect a human. He’d been around them for so long that he practically was one. But he played along with Crowley. “Why does Danny need to die in the first place?” He asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. Had to learn the basics before he could go onto the questions he actually needed answering.  
Crowley signed. “That's the problem, isn't it? He’s the grandchild of Sam Winchester. Sam’s a little too old and a little too dead now to be a good vessel, and the bloodline of Cain and Able was really all Lucifer needed.”  
Lucifer made Chax ask more, as if she wasn’t expecting this.  
“So Danny is Lucifer’s vessel?" Chax raised her eyebrows at Crowley. Lucifer knew this, too. Danny’s father had it too easy being the child of Sam Winchester. He never had any angst that drew people like Sam and Danny to sympathize inside. Plus a child as his vessel would add so much more style to it. He was taking advice from Lilith. Lucifer realized he was so caught up in this conversation that he didn’t even notice Crowley slowly answering his question.  
“To put it delicately” Crowley said slowly.  
“But if Danny died, couldn’t Lucifer just bring him back?” Lucifer needed to pay attention to this part. He tilted his head to the side slightly to be more like Chax. Her hair fell to the side, reminding Lucifer why he didn’t usually make himself a girl.  
“Not if Danny’s soul ended up in heaven.” Crowley sounded pathetic. But this was curious.  
“How would that help?” Lucfier said, ignoring the pathetic way Crowley both looked and felt.  
“Heaven’s locked him out you twat” Crowley snapped. This was news to Lucifer. He didn’t know that he couldn’t get into heaven. He hadn’t been too worried about Red killing Danny, first because Red wasn’t a demon anymore, and second because he thought he’d be able to get Danny back.  
He raised his eyebrows at Crowley. “So Lucifer breaks free and heaven locks him out. And the King of Hell doesn’t want a Winchester helping the other side.” Lucifer said quizzically.  
Crowley rolled his eyes. “Look. I just don’t want the Winchester line to get into that again. Besides, without a vessel, Lucifer’s basically powerless. Quite a big help to me, don't you think?” Crowley huffed, red-faced.  
Lucifer would have to agree. He ran a hand through Chax’s long black hair.“Why didn’t you tell any of this to Red? Wouldn’t that give him a valid reason to kill Danny?”  
Crowley seemed even more and more annoyed. He rolled his eyes. Lucifer smiled to himself for that.  
“If he knew the details he’d blab them to every demon on the planet. I don’t need everyone thinking I’ve gone soft. Last time that happened I nearly lost hell to Abaddon.”  
Lucifer kept his face level. But Ugg. That bitch fight between Crowley and Abaddon was one of the stupidest Lucifer had seen. He paused, trying to remember what they were talking about before Abaddon.  
“Then why chose him for this job?” Lucifer knew this already, but Chax wasn’t supposed to. She was mostly kept in the dark, like all of Crowley’s bitches. The only difference was she was trusted with a little bit more information if and when she asked for it.  
“He’s good at going on very few instructions and not questioning it. He’s just…a bit…dull. So I give him very little to go on and he’ll do what I ask.” Crowley looked at the door. “Most of the time” he added. Lucifer wanted to laugh. Did Crowley really not see it? Red wouldn’t kill a little boy.  
“Why are you telling me any of this?” Lucifer asked, slipping his nonchalance for a second in his excitement for all of the new information he was getting.  
“Because you now have to be the one to kill Danny. Red’s obviously too…human to be able to kill Danny, and Lucifer certainly can’t get to him” Lucifer almost laughed again. ‘Yes, keep going with that too human thing’ Lucifer thought to himself. But instead he regained his composure as Chax for the job that needed doing.  
"Okay. When do I start?"  
Crowley stood up and walked back around to his black chair.  
"Tonight. From what I understand Danny's expecting Red to show up and be his play buddy. You show up instead, kill him off, hunters funeral, blah blah blah you should know the rest."  
Lucifer nodded.  
"But you should know that because he's a Winchester, the house is warded and hidden from both angels and demons. You won't be able to find it by just snapping yourself there.” Warded from angels. Of course. Why wouldn’t the Winchester’s know angels and demons are after them. He’d forgotten that part.  
"Then how will I find it?” Lucifer asked, genuinely confused for the first time.  
Crowley wrote down the address on a slip of paper and handed it to Chax. "With this." He sank back into his chair.  
Lucifer nodded again, flashed Chax’s eyes black for dramatic effect and turned on his heels and left the room.

Lucifer was making plans. If Red was trying to protect Danny, keeping him locked up simply wouldn’t do. As soon as he was out of Crowley’s office he went back to the form of his old vessel. It was so much more comfortable than a demon girl that was blindlessly loyal to Crowley. And now dead for it. He smiled to himself. Crowley had just given him everything he needed to know.  
He went down to the dungeons where Red was imprisoned. He didn’t know what had let him out, but he knew the basics of what they’d done. And it was easy to break out of a cell from the outside, less easy from the inside. And these cells weren’t build like his cage. His cage was meant to contain…well Satan. This was just for demons. It wouldn’t be that hard. 

And all that could be heard from above was a blinding crash.


	4. The Man That Didn't Know Enough

Red didn't know who or what had set him free. But he didn't care. He was free and he could protect Danny. He got to Danny's house as soon as he could, forming a plan as he went.  
He had to ward Danny from the demons, including himself. If they couldn't find him they couldn't kill him. But he couldn't leave the boy there either, because Crowley would surely be sending someone else to do Red's job now that he was supposedly locked up.  
Red would have to take Danny far away. And he'd have to hope that Danny would come with him.

Crowley stepped into the destroyed cell and looked around for some clue as to who or what did this. He went through every detail of that cell and didn't see a trace.  
He went back to his office with as much composure as he could will himself to have. But he didn't stay in his office. He just picked up his most beloved knife to torture with and materialized himself in a warehouse in Illinois. He kept this place for times like this. It was nice to blow off steam on random creatures just for the hell of it.  
And with Red gone Crowley knew exactly where he'd go.  
Crowley's only hope was that Chax would get the job done. He would've gone himself, but the bloody Winchester knew his face by now, even at 7. And he'd know what Crowley was there for. So Chax would have to do for now.  
He went over to the first cell in the warehouse and shoved his knife through the cell bars into the leg of a vampire.

Red got to Danny’s house around midnight. And for once, Danny was actually sleeping. This was perfect. He could take Danny someplace far away and ward him from the demons. None of Crowley’s bitches were anywhere in sight. He took Danny in his arms and went to the first place that came to his mind. So he ended up in the middle of the woods in Oregon, hundreds of miles away from Danny’s home in Kansas.  
Red set Danny down in the grass, making Danny wake up. As soon as Danny realized that he wasn’t at home his body shot up and he scooted away from Red as fast as he could.  
“What am I doing here?” He sounded scared for the first time. Red didn’t answer. He couldn’t. Everything he thought about saying would’ve just screwed up the situation more.  
“Where are we and what am I doing here?” Danny demanded, his voice starting to shake.  
Finally Red gave up on finding the right words. “I’m trying to protect you”  
“Protect me from what?! You’re the one who kidnapped me in the middle of the night on the one night I wasn’t having nightmares!”  
“Let me try and explain” Red protested, walking towards Danny.  
Danny was starting to freak out more than Red could handle. He kept backing up as Red walked further. Finally Red stood still. All he’d wanted to do was save the boy from Crowley.  
But Danny shook his head. “I don’t need you to explain.”  
“Crowley was going to try and kill you!” Red tried anyway.  
“I KNOW HE WAS AND I DIDN’T CARE IF HE DID OR NOT.” Danny practically screamed at Red, in a tantrum way. He burst into tears streaming down his face. Red was speechless. Danny kept going, unable to stop himself. He hiccuped through the sobs of each word. “I thought you’d understand that. I told you all of those things. The bullies. My parents. I don’t want to follow in my parent’s footsteps. I’m not going to go out looking for things to kill me but if something comes up let it get me.”  
Red didn’t know how someone so young could have that much insight into things like that.  
Red crouched down to be eye level with Danny, but Danny avoided his gaze, rubbing his swollen eyes. “I’m not going to let you just die.”  
“You’re a demon. You’re not supposed to care.” Danny spat into Red’s face.  
“Yeah well I do so get over it. I’m going to protect you.” Red stood up again, brushing off his pants.  
“No.” Danny said in his matter-of-fact tone. He stopped crying. Red picked at his nail polish. He hadn’t had a chance to repaint it, so he was slowly picking away at each finger.  
A silence fell between them.  
Finally, Danny spoke up.  
“Why do you care so much?”  
“Because I do”  
“Yes but why” Danny knew that asking why over and over again made people snap and say things they wouldn’t normally admit.  
“I don’t know because you’re a kid.”  
“I know that but why do you care?” He smirked to add to the frustration he was trying to cause Red.  
“I don’t know"  
“Yea but why do you feel at all?” He could see Red’s face light up with the frustration he’d been keeping to himself.  
“I DON’T KNOW WHY I CAN FEEL THINGS" Red practically screamed, clearly frustrated and confused. He didn’t mean to lose his temper so easily but he hadn’t figured out how to control feelings and he didn’t understand why they were there in the first place.  
Danny had stopped crying, incredibly calm. He knew a lot more than people seemed to give him credit for. "You were one of the demons the Men of Letters cured." He went back to his 7 year old matter-of-fact tone.  
Red sank to the ground, shocked, realizing what that meant.  
Danny seemed to gain confidence. "Except they never fully cured any demons. They just got them on enough human blood that they'd still be recognizable as demon to other demons, but would have feelings."  
Red looked like he was about to say something, sat up, shook his head an sat back down.  
Danny kept going. He'd been waiting for an opportunity to tell people everything he'd put together.  
"Why do you think I wasn't scared of you when I saw you?" Red shrugged.  
"I knew you were half human” Red shook his head again, as if trying to get the thought out. “You’re not going to kill me or let me die, but you’re not protecting me either” Danny kept up his tone, completely sure of everything he was saying. He seemed to tower over Red, who was sitting down still.  
Red still couldn't find it in himself to from words, but Danny seemed to be waiting for him. So he swallowed. "Well now they're coming to kill you anyway" he tried to pull a brave face.  
But Danny saw right through it. Red heard the fire in his words and knew he meant what he was saying.  
"Red if you do this don't bother looking for me."  
Red sighed. "I wouldn't be able to find you if I tried"  
Red stood up and put his hand, with it's chipped red nail polish, on Danny's head. And he warded Danny on his ribs from demons so no demon would ever be able to find Danny again.  
Danny fell to the ground, knocked out from what Red had done.  
Red picked up Danny and materialized in a motel in Lebanon, Kansas. It was close enough to where Danny lived. If Danny was actually as self-sufficient as he let on he’d be able to get home. He took Danny to one of the rooms and left the now unconscious boy there. And from there he went back to the woods of Oregon, leaving Danny there.

Crowely was waiting there in the woods for him when he got there. He obviously wasn't in a good mood.  
“You escaped. You warded him from us. You screwed us over completely for any hope of winning against Lucifer” Crowley’s voice got louder and louder as he went.  
“How the hell does a little boy have anything to do with Lucifer?” Red whispered.  
“DANNY WINCHESTER IS LUCIFER’S VESSEL. HE NEEDED TO DIE SO LUCIFER COULDN’T GET TO HIM”  
Red took a step back, completely dumbstruck. He'd screwed it up. Again. He put his head in his hands. Crowley was panting from anger and yelling. After a long pause Red finally found words.  
“Did you know that I was half cured by the Men of Letters?” Red accused Crowley. It was Crowley’s turn to be speechless as the reality sank in. It made total sense. He had feelings. He cared for Danny because he had feelings. Damn those fucking Winchesters and the Men of Letters.  
“That explains a lot” he put very simply.  
Red picked at the last bit of nail polish on his finger. He didn’t pursue Crowley because Crowley obviously didn’t know anything about it. And he'd screwed up. Again. He’d screwed up. He turned to leave but Crowley called out after him, “You’re going to pay for all of the hell you’ve caused, you know”.  
It wasn’t said with any malice. It was calm and sure and it sent a shiver down Red’s spine. He knew.  
Red dared not go back to hell. So he turned around and disappeared, leaving Crowley in the woods.

Crowley went back to his office in hell right away. He called in for Chax but there was silence. He called again and received the same answer. Finally he went to where Chax worked and tortured souls (each high officer had their own small office), and found her dead on the floor.  
“Well then. Someone’s not getting a raise.” 

Danny woke up the next morning and quickly knew where he was. He’d stayed in this motel when he’d visited his grandparents, who lived in a really big underground house all together. It was called the bunker. And they stayed there so they could live their lives in peace. So that monsters couldn’t get to them like they got to Danny’s family. All demons and angels and monsters thought they were dead. At least that’s what Danny was told. It was his family’s job to get rid of anything that found out anything. Danny could’ve easily made it home from there. But there was one problem. The man from Danny’s dreams was sitting at the table in the motel room, watching him. Danny froze when he saw him. When Red had come into his room he’d known exactly what Red wanted and was going to do. He’d fallen for feeling like there was someone out there who cared about what he wanted. But Red didn't care.  
What did the man want?  
The man from his dreams got up and walked over to the bed.  
“Hello, Danny Winchester.” Lucifer said.  
“W-who’s asking?” Danny tried his best to fake his confidence.  
Lucifer looked like he pitied Danny. He looked at him like he was a little kid in way over his head. And nothing made Danny more mad than adults thinking he wasn’t capable and wouldn’t understand. He sat up to his full height.  
"No one." Lucifer said calmly.  
Danny swallowed.  
"Who are you? I thought you were a nightmare..." Danny was trying to fake confidence. But the Man From His Dreams was so casual it made Danny even more scared than before.  
"You're not stupid, Danny. You know who I am. You know how angels need a vessel. This guy's an old illusion that died a long time ago. You know who I am, because you're grandfather was my vessel, just like you. And the bloodline keeps going."  
"You're Lucifer…” A look of comprehension came over Danny.  
Lucifer looked impressed.  
Danny's face hardened.  
“I will never say yes to you” he tried his best to sound like his grandfather.  
“Oh, but you will” Lucifer sounded like he pitied Danny again.  
Danny made a fist as his frustration grew. He shook his head. “Get out”  
And without a second thought, Lucifer disappeared.  
Danny's fist loosened. He didn’t know what to do. He was the vessel for Lucifer. His grandfather had been the vessel for Lucifer. He was so close to where Grandpa Sam was….he’d take a bus there. It would only take about an hour to walk from the nearest bus stop to their bunker.  
He walked out of the motel before realizing how hungry he was. But he didn’t have any money. He looked around. The bus stop was close to the motel. It had to be. They walked there the last time they’d stayed here. He couldn’t think about food. Food wasn’t going to make his nightmares go away. And it wouldn’t make Lucifer go away, either. He just had to get to Grandpa Sam.  
He found the bus stop easily enough, and he knew the names of the streets and stops. He knew where to walk once he’d gotten off the bus. It wasn’t that hard to get to. Maybe they’d give him food.  
Danny stopped in front of the bunker, knocking the secret knock his father always used as best he could. After a while of waiting (it took them a while to climb the stairs to the door) Grandpa Dean opened the door.


	5. Maybe Demons Don't Have Friends

Dean heard the knocking on the door. "Cas were we expecting anyone?" he yelled as he clambered up the stairs to the door. He was getting to be too old for stairs.  
"No, Dean” Castiel called back.  
The person outside knocked again. Dean noticed this time that it was the knock that meant family was at the door. The knocking kept going.  
“I’m coming, I’m coming” Dean snapped at the door.  
When he finally got to the door he opened it slowly, somewhat confused. Family always called before they got here. Dean looked down to see a forced smile on a young face he knew so well.  
"Danny! What are you doing here? And without your dad?" Grandpa Dean looked confused.  
Danny looked at his shoes.  
"I needed to talk to Grandpa Sam. My dad doesn't know I'm here." his voice shook with the fear he'd been trying to hide.  
Dean peaked his head inside the door. "Hey, Cas? Can you wake up Sam?”  
Grandpa Cas nodded.  
“Come in, come in” Grandpa Dean said warmly.  
Danny stepped inside shyly, still looking at his shoes.

"Grandpa Sam?" Danny asked quietly.  
"Yes Danny?" Grandpa Sam sounded tired, but looked so happy to see Danny.  
Danny crawled onto Grandpa Sam's lap. He felt so small. Like he had no control.  
"Can you tell me about the time you said yes to Lucifer?"  
Sam's face hardened. He didn't like to think about it. He looked down at Danny. So innocent. So unknowing. Why would he ask about this of all stories?  
"Well the world was going to end. And there was one special day for the show down." Sam winced as if it were bringing back something painful. Danny looked up at the pause but waited patiently. "And well...Dean, Cas, and our uncle Bobby didn't know what to do about it. Because we had to save half of the world and didn't know how. And...eventually...I thought that I could say yes to Lucifer, and then use the four horseman's rings to open his cage and jump in, trapping me and him in the cage" Sam stopped for a minute, immersed in the memory of what happened that day.  
"Did it work?" At the sound of Danny's voice, Sam willed himself back to reality.  
"Well... Not at first. But eventually, yes, destiny lost and both Michael and Lucifer were trapped in the cage. And your Grandpa Cas saved me from the cage."  
"You were a hero" Danny sounded amazing.  
Sam shrugged. "At the time I was just trying to save people. It was our job."  
Danny though about being a hero. That's what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a hero and save the world like his Grandpa Sam and Grandpa Dean.  
He'd say yes to Lucifer, too. 

Before he left, his Grandma Amelia gave him food while Grandpa Dean asked all about his goings on. Danny talked about school, and teachers, but avoided ever mentioning his father or Red.  
His Grandpa Dean drove him home before his dad would get home so it seemed like he'd never left. 

When Danny got home he went straight to his room. If he was going to say yes to Lucifer, he had to do it right. He set it up like he wouldn't come back. He put on his fancy clothes that he was only allowed to wear once a year and wrote a note to his parents. 

"It's a yes"  
An image of Lucifer shimmered in the air and spoke.  
"I can't come in here. Come outside"

Danny signed. But he walked outside to the backyard.  
"Okay Lucifer. Satan. Whatever the shit you want to be called. It's a yes."  
There he was. And then he was Lucifer. All of his thoughts that he'd tried to keep buried from his dad finding were being scratched at. He knew he had to take control of Lucifer, but it was like controlling a comet. He was strapped to a comet that he was supposed to control. How had his grandfather done it?  
"Don't try and fight it, Danny" he heard himself say. But it wasn't him.  
"You've got some cowboys in here". "It's quite impressive for one so young. You'll be 8 soon. But your dad's never said happy birthday. 

Let's have some fun.  
They disappeared from Danny's backyard and appeared in a store he'd never seen. 

Lucifer started hurting people then. Red knew it wasn't him. He tried to black himself out but he couldn't. Lucifer kept scratching at memories that made Danny angry.  
Danny didn't even realize the people in the store were dead until it was over. He realized then that he was covered in blood. 

"Didn't that feel good?" Lucifer hissed. "You finally put that anger you'd bottled up at your dad to good use."

Seemingly satisfied, Lucifer disappeared again. When they materialized, the first thing Danny saw was a man with his back to him. 

"Hello"  
Red shot around then. He slowly looked down, closing his eyes. He exhaled, slowly, clearly tired.  
"I thought I had a hex bag so angels couldn't find me" Red said.  
"Well it was pretty half-assed, don't you think?"  
Red sighed. "What do you want, Lucifer."  
"I want to thank you!" Lucifer...Danny opened his arms as if welcoming Red in. "Without you I wouldn't have a vessel!" Red cringed at the thought of helping Lucifer.  
All he'd wanted to do was protect Danny.  
He kneeled down to look Danny in the eye.  
"Danny. If you can hear me, I'm sorry."  
If Danny could've cried then he would've.  
“You’re really stupid, you know that?” Red knew it was Lucifer but hearing Danny say it stung.  
“I know.” Red whispered. He kept his face level with Danny's. He closed his eyes. He knew what was coming.  
'Maybe demons don't have friends.' Red thought to himself as he felt Danny's hand rise to his head and smite him.

The End


End file.
